The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

AN officer gave testimony yesterday in the ongoing drug trial of two men in the Magistrate’s Court.

Shaquell Moss, 20, and Triven Butler, 34, appeared before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney on charges of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply as well as conspiracy to possess and export drugs charges.

This is in relation to their arrest on December 11, 2017, when officers arrested the accused for being in possession of 3.6lbs of cocaine.

In court, Detective Sergeant Paul Adderley, of Crime Scene Investigations, gave testimony on his involvement in the case.

He said that on December 14, 2017, after receiving information from officers of the Drug Enforcement Unit, he received a dark blue suitcase with suspected drugs inside that had Moss’s name tagged on it. Inside the suitcase he found articles of clothing as well as two packages wrapped in clear saran wrap.

He told the court that a portion of the clear wrapping was removed from both packages in the presence of other officers where a powdery white substance, later identified as cocaine, was uncovered. The wrapping was then processed for fingerprint impressions of which 25 in total were pulled and information gathered placed in the latent fingerprint log.

These fingerprint impressions were labelled A – Y and then photographed with labels of the name and police numbers of officers involved in the case.

These photographs, along with photos of the suitcase, wrappings and the drugs were presented to the court. The suitcase was also shown in court.

During her cross-examination of Det Sgt Adderley, Moss’s attorney Wendawn Miller-Frazer argued that the bag shown in the photograph was not the same one as shown in court despite the officer’s claims. She based her allegation on a green mark seen on the photo that she said was not present on the bag in court.

Officer Adderley denied this claim and while he acknowledged that he couldn’t find the mark in question, it was still the same bag he was handed during his investigation.

Magistrate McKinney adjourned the trial to March 28.

The magistrate, however, advised Butler to find a new attorney as his current legal counsel once again failed to appear on his behalf. He further cautioned Butler that the trial would proceed with or without his current attorney’s presence and it would be in his best interest to find alternative counsel more respectful of his and the court’s time.